A home help carer who abused her position of trust by stealing £10,700 from her eighty-one years old vulnerable patient, has been given twelve months to pay back £5,000 otherwise she's going to jail.

Mother-of-five Glenda Henry, a single parent Magherafelt, stole the money from her victim between June 2015 and February 2016. The woman whose money she stole died in May of last year.

Judge Gemma Loughran told Henry at he Crown Court in Derry yesterday that her offending was callous and mean. She said by her actions Henry, from Parkmore Gardens, had undermined the confidence of vulnerable elderly people in terms of their relationships with their trusted carers.

"The £5,000 which she must repay is a significant amount for someone now in a position of unemployability but it must cause her a considerable amount of sacrifice", Judge Loughran added.

Henry, 51, who is chronically disabled, worked two days a week for her victim who at the time cared for her elderly husband. She started working for her victim in 2012 after leaving her full time carer's job when her employer refused to reduce her working hours.

A Public Prosecution Service barrister said in March 2015 the victim's daughter contacted the police after noting irregularities in her mother's debit card account. At that time the victim had trusted Henry with her debit card and pin number for shopping purposes.

In June 2015 the victim transferred £1,000 from her savings account into her current account and in the space of four weeks Henry withdrew the £1,000 withdrawing £250 per week.

The victim then received a letter from her bank stating that her current account was overdrawn.

"That letter caused distress and upset to this lady who blamed herself because she felt she was responsible for the financial irregularities", the barrister said.

In November 2015 the victim's husband transferred £6,000 from his savings account into his wife's current account. Henry then stole more money from the lady's account, once when her victim was in hospital.

Read More

Henry was caught when the police traced one of the illegal withdrawals from the lady's account to an ATM machine in the ASDA supermarket in Cookstown. They examined CCTV footage which showed the defendant withdrawing the money.

Henry was interviewed by the police in January 2016 and denied any wrongdoing, but when she was re-interviewed the following July she made partial admissions and accepted that she had taken advantage of her victim's trust in her.

Judge Loughran said aspects of the offending appalled her. None of the stolen £10,700 has been recovered and she said she was struggling not to send Henry straight to jail.

"This woman took you into her home. She trusted you but when you looked at her straight in the eye you went behind her back and stole her money", she told Henry.

"What you did was mean and selfish and the greedy course of conduct in which you engaged in over a period of time was reprehensible", she added.

Read More

Defence barrister Mark Reel said that Henry, who received £180 per week in benefits, had lost her previously good name and reputation. He said she had been involved in two abusive relationships. She had no previous convictions and wanted to pay back some of the money she had stolen.

Mr Reel added Henry did not fund a lavish lifestyle with the money she had stolen, rather she used it for day to day matters.